{"id":"DUT-GA-017","kind":"duty","level":"court","jurisdiction":"Georgia (Court of Appeals of Georgia, Third Division)","state":"GA","metro":"","industry":"","agency":"","eco":"","issuer":"Court of Appeals of Georgia (Doyle, P.J., with Reese, J., and Senior Appellate Judge Phipps)","authority":"O.C.G.A. sections 51-16-1 to 51-16-5 (Georgia COVID-19 Pandemic Business Safety Act); O.C.G.A. section 38-3-35(b); the Governor\u0027s Executive Orders of March 14 and April 14, 2020","instrument":"Arbor Management Services, LLC v. Hendrix, No. A22A0068 (Ga. Ct. App. June 22, 2022)","title":"Opinion reversing the denial of a motion to dismiss: negligence claims for a senior-living facility\u0027s March 2020 infection-control conduct are barred by the Georgia COVID-19 Pandemic Business Safety Act absent gross negligence","dateIssued":"2022-06-22","effective":"2022-06-22","end":"","startDate":"2022-06-22","endDate":"","quarters":[],"types":["DUTY","COND"],"addressees":["specified businesses (senior-living and healthcare facilities on the facts); every \u0027entity\u0027 within section 51-16-1(4) by the Act\u0027s terms"],"clause":"On March 14, 2020,... the governor of Georgia issued an executive order declaring a public health emergency stating that all \u0027healthcare facilities\u0027 shall comply with emergency orders... These are not the sort of events, such as inviting the public to a large indoor concert, that might demonstrate the total absence of even a slight amount of common sense that typifies gross negligence.","enforcement":"Not applicable (appellate decision construing the immunity\u0027s condition)","functions":[],"notes":"The court read the Governor\u0027s March 14, 2020 order as requiring healthcare facilities to comply with emergency orders (slip op. at 13), read section 38-3-35(b) as protecting emergency-management activity \u0027reasonably attempting to comply with\u0027 emergency orders except for willful misconduct, gross negligence or bad faith (at 14), and held that a facility\u0027s March 11-17, 2020 conduct (announcing visitor restrictions, then imperfectly enforcing distancing and masking) was at most ordinary negligence, so the Business Safety Act barred the claims (at 18-19); the opinion treats the protocols of the orders as the conduct against which a Georgia business\u0027s care is measured. Character as recorded: adjudication (liability shield applied).","sourceUrl":"https://www.uschamber.com/assets/documents/Opinion20-20Arbor20Management20Services20LLC20v.20Hendrix2028Georgia20Court20of20Appeals29.pdf","snapshot":"","fileExists":true,"fileBytes":123771,"grade":"primary","character":"adjudication","description":"","collection":"DUT-GA","url":"/library/DUT-GA-017","exhibitUrl":"/exhibit/DUT-GA-017","citation":"Court of Appeals of Georgia (Doyle, P.J., with Reese, J., and Senior Appellate Judge Phipps), Arbor Management Services, LLC v. Hendrix, No. A22A0068 (Ga. Ct. App. June 22, 2022) (Ex. DUT-GA-017)","stateName":"Georgia","related":["DUT-GA-019"]}